


Just a little more time

by Aces_and_Roses



Series: Bad Things, Coming to a Story Near You! [1]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Heavy Angst, M/M, seriously there is nothing happy here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 13:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20390161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aces_and_Roses/pseuds/Aces_and_Roses
Summary: They’d been so careful. Overcautious, really, always ensuring that Azu or Cel were on any mission Zolf was (or really, anyone that could physically carry him if need be). But not this time. No, this time, it was just Zolf and Hamid. Hamid, the one person in their group that couldn’t carry Zolf, couldn’t do anything to help, no matter how desperately he wanted to.So of course that was the one and only time they’d ever encountered any anti-magic field powerful enough to disable Zolf’s prosthetics.





	Just a little more time

**Author's Note:**

> For the BTHB prompt: I'll only slow you down  
I wrote this at like 2 am last night because apparently that's the only time that inspiration will strike me now. It is very, very sad guys. I'm sorry in advance. (Warning: There's no major character death here, but the end of the story implies that there will be)

They’d been so _careful_. Overcautious, really, always ensuring that Azu or Cel were on any mission Zolf was (or really, anyone that could physically carry him if need be). But not this time. No, this time, it was just Zolf and Hamid. Hamid, the one person in their group that _couldn’t_ carry Zolf, couldn’t do anything to help, no matter how desperately he wanted to.

So of course that was the one and only time they’d ever encountered any anti-magic field powerful enough to disable Zolf’s prosthetics.

They were hidden behind a low wall near the edge of the estate they’d gone to investigate, listening to the steady, almost rhythmic _thump-scrape_ of whatever the beast was that had been chasing them. Zolf was desperately examining the legs, as though that would somehow change the fact that they _depended on magic to function_. There was no point to it, he knew that, but it still made him feel better, let him _hope _for just a little while longer that something would change and they’d both get out of this mess.

The _thump-scrape_ sounded closer with every second and Zolf knew, deep down, that they wouldn’t be able to kill it. Not without magic (why had they ever thought it was a good idea to send the two people most dependent on magic off on their own?). So he gave up on his legs, turning his attention to Hamid instead.

Hamid was pale, so pale he looked almost ashen, his breathing was harsh and rapid. “Hamid? You still with me?” Zolf whispered, still starkly aware of the _thump-scrape, thump-scrape_ getting closer.

“Y-yeah,” he responded, equally hushed, turning to look at Zolf with wide eyes. “What do we do? I can’t- I can’t carry you. Not fast enough to get away from whatever that thing is.” Hamid’s tone was pleading, begging, hoping desperately that Zolf had some sort of plan to get them out of this, something that Hamid hadn’t already considered.

“I… I don’t know.” That was a lie; Zolf knew exactly what they needed to do. He just… couldn’t bring himself to say it. Not yet. Not when he still had a little time.

_All he wanted was a little more time._

“I- okay. We can- we can come up with something. We just need to…” Hamid glanced around desperately, like the nearly barren garden around them would somehow hold all the answers. “If I… If I find the source of the field, I could destroy it. But the search area’s too big, I wouldn’t even know where to start. And I’d have to leave you here defenseless. No, no, no there- there must be something else.” Improbably, Hamid’s breathing was getting even faster, and Zolf knew if he let him continue on this way he’d work himself into a panic attack.

_He thought he’d have some more time._

“Hamid-” Hamid continued to ramble on, under his breath, oblivious to Zolf’s attempted interjection, his eyes focused on something in the middle distance. “Hamid!” he said sharply, and Hamid’s gaze snapped back to him. Looking into his eyes now, Zolf could see the tears gathering, threatening to spill over any second. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not! How could it possibly be okay? We’ve got no way out, we’re going to- we’re going to die here!” Zolf reached out to lay a hand gently on Hamid’s shoulder, and Hamid collapsed inward, one hand coming up to wipe at his eyes, damaging his eyeliner irreparably.

“_We’re_ not going to die here.” Zolf paused, coughing slightly in an attempt to dislodge the lump he could feel forming in his throat. “You need to go.”

Hamid’s hand dropped from his eyes, the tears now flowing down his cheeks as he looked back to Zolf. “No, I’m not going to do that.”

“Hamid-”

“No! I’m not- I’m not _leaving you here to die!_” He grabbed Zolf’s hand off his shoulder, holding it tightly in his own. “There has to be another way.”

The _thump-scrape_ was even closer now, too close. Hamid needed to _go_. “You know as well as I do that there isn’t.” Hamid’s grip on Zolf’s hand got even tighter, just on the edge of painful. “You have to go. Before it’s too late. I’ll hold it off.”

Hamid let out a sob, squeezing his eyes shut as his entire body shuddered with it. “Zolf…”

Zolf’s vision was blurring with tears of his own, and he blinked them away, desperate to be able to look at Hamid for as long as possible before…

_Just a little more time._

“Hamid, please, I can’t… I’ve already lost you once, I can’t lose you again.” He tugged Hamid forward, wrapping his free arm around him in a hug, feeling him shake against his chest as he buried his face in Zolf’s neck.

“There has to be another way,” Hamid repeated, muffled.

“There isn’t. So I need you to go. I need to know your safe, before-” He cut himself off, his breath hitching as Hamid pulled back to look at him again.

“Zolf, please…”

_Why couldn’t he have had more time?_

“Hamid. Go.” He leaned forward as much as he could with his dead legs, pressing a kiss to Hamid’s forehead before pulling back, tugging his hand free of Hamid’s grasp.

Hamid stared at him for a few moments longer, like he couldn’t bring himself to look away. Then, he set his jaw and stood from behind the wall, turning and running as fast as he could. Running away from the monster. Away from Zolf.

The _thump-scrape_ drew ever closer, and Zolf held his glaive in a white-knuckled grip, adjusting his position as best he could. He could hold it off long enough for Hamid to get away, find the others. He could make sure Hamid was safe, even if he could do nothing else.

_Just a little more time._

Closer, closer.

_Just a little more._

Close enough that he could hear its breaths, heavy and rough. Close enough that he could feel the warm puffs of air wash over him.

_Just a little._

Hamid would be safe.

_Just._

That was all that mattered.

_If only he’d had just a little more time._

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr at redactedquill if you want to hold me accountable for this (or send me more BTHB prompts, that works too :) )
> 
> There's now a sequel, ['All that matters'](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20481005), where I fixed it all, if that's something you're into.


End file.
